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00:04 This is what is sometimes referred to as a living fossil.
00:07 That's because the organism has been around for some 390 million years.
00:12 But our planet is changing, and experts now say it could soon face extinction.
00:17 The species is called Takakia, and it's a type of moss.
00:20 The moss is found only in some of the most remote areas of the US, Japan, and
00:24 in the Himalayas.
00:25 And it's one of the quickest species to adapt to environmental changes.
00:29 In fact, it's been around since before the Himalayas even existed,
00:32 which biologists say it was forced to quickly adapt,
00:35 as the mountains literally grew out of nowhere.
00:37 But because climate change is altering our world more quickly than that,
00:40 even this fast evolving plant can't keep up.
00:42 Despite being extremely active on a genetic level and
00:45 being the genome with the highest number of fast evolving genes,
00:48 scientists say they expect Takakia to be extinct in just the next 100 years.
00:52 A hard truth to swallow,
00:53 considering this species predates the dinosaurs by 160 million years.
00:58 Which is why biologists have now begun to collect and transplant it to other areas,
01:03 hoping it will adapt elsewhere and continue its long-lived existence.
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